Malware Killers Software

Continuing my series on securing your computer, I’ve talked about the importance of a good firewall, an anti-virus program, and now I’m going to address the necessity of good malware and spyware programs. While a firewall and anti-virus are absolutely necessary for a computer on the Internet, you can live without a malware/spyware protection. But I guarantee you that at some point you will need one. As you surf the Internet, your computer collects loads of small files (cookies) and other files (tracking files, etc). And your computer also may pick up a worm, trojan, or virus. Spyware and malware programs detect these files and the good ones will wipe them out.

All the ones I mention here are free as of this writing:

MalwareBytes
a-Squared Free
CrapCleaner
Lavasoft Ad-Aware
Spybot Search and Destroy

There are many more. And programs like WinPatrol and Spybot’s TeaTimer monitor your computer activity for changes in the registry.

Unlike firewalls and anti-virus programs, where you can only have one software program running– you can have multiple spyware/malware programs installed and running on your computer. In fact, it is recommended. Some programs are better than others at finding bugs and threats. I have five various programs installed on my computers. Always check for updates before scanning your computer.

In the next few posts, I’ll be addressing the issues of safe surfing, safe email handling, and other things you can do to protect your computer from harmful threats.